Unigames 2010 saw 5000 university athletes from around Australia descend on the unsuspecting West Australian Capital of Perth. Adelaide University sent a team of 120, 14 of which were Basketballers. Those 14 however made a lasting impact on Adelaide Uni Sport, Perth and Unigames Basketball!

THE TEAMS

(Origins of nicknames stay in Perth)

Boys Girls
(Roudy) Ryan Bassman Lara (Skin Cancer) McCarthy
Chris (Drill Sergeant) McMichael Emma (Logorrhea)  Westthorp
Henry (Mr Domestic) Tieman Jess (Surprise Attack) Westthorp
Mark (BFG) Proctor Kate (Baldy) Richards
Jeremy (Captain) Cotterill Alex (Shelia) Glen
Tom (Old Man) Alford Chloe (Bruised Knees) Lim
Toby (Lady-Killa) Lightheart  
Stuart (The Drill) Renigers  

 

PRE-TOURNAMENT

To aid the financial situation of the Unigames Basketballers fundraising events were organised. A hugely successful and generous night was held at Nando’s (Kurralta park, off ANZAC highway) and a number of barbeques contributed to the trip.

After the Adelaide Unigames team dinner the basketballers started their team bonding at the Elephant. Stories were told, excitement was enhanced and beers were consumed all in the name of Unigames Basketball 2010.

SUNDAY              SEP 26TH

 

Sunday was the official start of Unigames with the opening ceremony that evening. Toby arrived and was greeted appropriately by a few hangovers! To fill the time Chris and Jeremy made devious plans while others visited the Perth Mint, the movies, Target and Cottesloe beach

Sunday’s dinner coincided with a highly organized game of Kings Cup. Chris’ first call home was not to say hi to the folks rather to get drinking game rules… Aiming to catch the opening ceremony at 7:30 the Griffins made it in fashionably late at 9:00 but everyone was gone… that was ok because Zac the black power-ranger was there and the Griff’s made their own fun!

  • Destroyed the Nova Blowup man
  • Climbed over Perth’s statues
  • Scared little kids
  • Made unwanted sexual approaches
  • Changed tires
  • Got kicked out of the club (mainly the black power-rangers fault…)

A midnight snack at Nando’s prepared us for the walk back. The Griff’s were greeted home by the UWA rugby boys pissing off their balcony… they weren’t staying with us Monday…

MONDAY            SEP 27TH

 

GAME TIME BABY… YEA!

The girl’s 8:30 game was a struggle for everyone but after busing and bush-bashing to the stadium. We were stunned by the amazing facility. The WA Basketball center had been finished this year and was the best facility anyone had played in. 10 clean and well lit courts with working score clocks!!! Listen up BSA!

Girls Game 1 vs University of Notre Dame (Fremantle Uni)

The girls were doing really well working as a team matching UNDA basket for basket… until they decided to trap. The fast pace game of UNDA did not suit the AU girls. Even Coach power-ranger couldn’t do anything. Our lack of point guards and team experience showed as we were run out of the game 28-45.

Boys Game 1 vs Edith Cowen University (Perth Universtiy)

Unfortunately desire, team cohesion and effort don’t always get you wins… this was one of those times. ECU fielded a team of ABA basketballers WHO COULD SHOOT!!! The Griffins tried everything; trapping, zone, man-to-man, pants down, up-side-down, inside out etc. Despite this ECU showed why they should have been playing div 1 winning 33-75. The Griffins did look good at times and only lost the 3rd quarter by 1 point.

Girls Game 2 vs University of Balarat

The AU Girls, angry at their first loss, came out and kicked ass. They were up by 15 until UBAL realized our weakness. They too began running and trapping at every possibility. It didn’t help that Chloe Lim went down with a knee injury which would put her out of the tournament.

(It is still under debate whether she faked the injury so that Stu Renigers could carry her off the court in his arms).

Despite great running by Alex Glen and good inside work by Lara McCarthy, AU went down again 25-48.

Boys Game 2 vs Australian University of Physical Education

The boys had more good moments in their second game; Mark Proctor sending bodies flying inside, Ryan Bassman running the lanes and Chris McMichael sinking his favorite foul line jump shot. However we couldn’t link it all up. It didn’t help that the game was paused to clean up Chris’ blood he spread over the court after cutting his chin taking a charge.

The Griff’s were right in the game down by 6 with 5 min to play…then suddenly they were down by 14…After the timeout we cut the lead back to 5 in one minute. But it wasn’t enough some unlucky calls and shots gave AUPC the win 47-43

It was a disappointing day but a few drinking games and Beauty and the Geek night saw that change. Maybe the mood changed a little too much because two separate cases of team incest were recorded….!

TUESDAY             SEP 28TH

 

Girls Game 3 vs University of Wollongong

In a game we were not expecting to win – mainly because Chris was coaching in a full power-ranger suit mask and all – the girls played really hard. Wollongong didn’t give us anything as they played tight man-to-man defense. No matter how hung-over UoW told us they were, AU made them work for their baskets. Despite our 2nd best score of the tournament UoW were too tall and skilled making the final result 65-37

Boys Game 3 vs Bond University

In an interesting twist to the tournament the AU boys could finish second in their pool by winning this (their last) pool game. ACPE and Bond had split games both by 4 points. Therefore if the Griffins won by 5 or more they would finish second.

The boys lay everything on the court. Unfortunately we just couldn’t shake Bond off. The score got out to as many as 9 but they clawed their way back after a few 3s. Toby Lightheart was ice cold from the free throw line keeping us that 4 point buffer. Mark Proctor was forced to sit due to a bleeding nose and Chris McMichael was sent to the stripe with 1 minute to play. Chris did what he does best… miss his first free throw… but luckily the second rattled in.

Griffins up by 5 with 1 minute to play, the last minute of defense was so intense there is no memory of it… but it doesn’t matter because we won by 5! The Griffins get second spot in the pool by 1 point!

Shopping had to be done for our curry dinner, shopping also included 144 beers and 50 packets of Mi Goreng!

Due to the alleged actions of Monday night AUG basketball held its first ‘court’ session in 2 years. Henry Tieman as the defendants’ lawyer (and the best dressed) failed at representing his clients. Not for lack of effort but mainly because the judges, jury and prosecutors were all the same people ;-)

Punishments were given, everyone dressed in their retro sport attire and AU basketball hit the town. Memorable moments included Mark Proctor’s cement mixer shot as punishment as worst dressed and Toby showing that he can ‘kill-it’ off the court too!

WEDNESDAY     SEP 29TH

Girls Game 4 vs La Trobe University

 Chloe didn’t make it to the game because she was in hospital getting her knee checked. The results are that she has to get a knee reconstruction putting her out for 9 months. She still partied like a superstar though!

The AU girls with 5 players, an idiot coach, music and a porno doll mascot came up against a coach who thought she was a bit better than she actually was. La Trobe did not like being matched basket for basket so they played full court defense after quarter time. Even when the game was over they continued to be shits so we decided to have a bit of fun. The boys got their heckle on, Ruby Flynn got some minutes on Lara’s shoulders, Emma Westhorp knocked down 3’s and Alex (after showing off her new tattoos) blocked the shit out of some layups! Our 3rd loss (29-75) put the girls at the bottom of a very strong pool in which the two top teams made it to the semifinals.

Boys Game 4 vs University of South Australia

The boys had to wait until 3:30 for a chance to beat USA for a spot in the top 8. To say the boys were pumped for this game was an understatement! Tom Alford tore through the USA defense drawing fouls and dropping points. The Griffins first complete game saw a big win 62-27 and a spot in the top 8. The game was summed up well by Mark as he spoke for the team in the all South Australian 2 team huddle!

Emergency services night was also initiation night. The AUG virgins (including injured Chloe and Ryan) passed with flying colors. The organization however wasn’t great with the virgins running away at one stage…

Those who went out took over the Dean! Except sober Alex Glen, who wasn’t allowed in on her first try (this turned out to become a recurring theme). That night 3 of us saw people sleeping on their balcony after being locked outside, however Ryan Bassman (even with a hurt ankle) stole the show with his crutches dance.

 

THURSDAY         SEP 30TH

Boys Game 5 Quarter Final vs University of Western Sydney

Despite the 9:00 start the boys were pumped and showed it on the court. UWS rocked up just before start time and were not ready for the fire the Griffins would bring! UWS made their runs but we always had an answer. Henry Tieman cleaning up the scraps, Jeremy banging in big 3s and team defense shutting down their top players! A win of 44-26 gave the Griffins a spot in the top 4!

Not bad considering that all other teams in the top 8 had state league players (our best play div3!) and we were 1 point off playing off for 14th!

Girls Game 5 vs Australian Catholic University

The girls were in need of a win and ACU gave them just that. This game was played in great spirit and the AU girls showed how good they could have been with more players and some luck. Lara spent some time at the point after jumping off against 2 girls on each other’s shoulders and Kate Richards showed off her post moves! 40-24 gave the Girly-Griffins their first win.

Girls Game 6 vs Edith Cowen University

The girls were buzzing after their first win but their legs were about to fall off after playing almost 5 games without a break…

The game against ECU gave the girls a unique chance to play a WNBL player. The girls did themselves proud with some excellent (and loud) team defense and efficient offence forcing ECU to play man against us. Despite our winning start and good play we were sooooooo tired. Jess Westthorp’s shooting seemed to improve as she got more tired??? ECU’s shooting eventually put us out of the game.  33-49 was a commendable way to finish the tournament.

Congratulations girls for trying so hard over the week! You did yourselves proud and our 10th place finish could have been very different if some things went our way.

Boys Game 6 Semi Final vs Victoria University

Playing for a spot in the gold medal match the boys tried as hard as they could and were right in the game up until half time. In what was a very physical match the Griffins were eventually overrun by a quality VU team. The final score does not show the intensity of the match. If we had had someone shooting well, some consistent referee calls or not spent the last 4 days playing and partying it could have been much closer. The Griffins go into the bronze medal match after losing 38-61.

The second semifinal was between two WA universities; ECU and Curtin University. They were as good as any of the division 1 sides and they played some of the best basketball any of us had seen. The game should have been the gold medal match but it finished with Curtin winning by 3. This put the boys against ECU again who had previously beaten us by 42…

Top 4 for boys and a win to the girls = PARTY TIME!

In celebration the team ate out and had one of the tournament referees as our waiter! Gender bender night was a little too exciting for the team… nobody seemed to care about standing in drag outside the hotel waiting for the CFS (Somebody had broken the hotel water supply pipe after doing chin-ups on it…)

Chris’ sugar-tits brought the boys to the yard, Tom Alford flirted with the bouncer, Henry Tieman found uses for his handbag (proving that Charlotte does have him on a ball and chain) and the girls were loving life in jeans and t-shirts!

FRIDAY                                 OCT 1ST

A top 4 finish gave everyone a sleep-in, followed with a waffle breakfast and Gatorade – perfect preparation for a final!

Boys Game 7 Bronze Medal Match vs ECU

The crew was clearly struggling when they arrived however everyone was pumped to show ECU that we were now a much better team. The Griff’s aim was to hold them to 100 with us scoring more than 60 in the fully timed final …We would do much better than that!

In true Unigames spirit AU started with our favorite drinking sing-a-long and a wounded team;

  • Chris still had his eye shadow on from last night and a husky tramp voice
  •  Toby had a cut eye
  • Tom’s back was ruined
  • Ryan played with rolled ankle
  • Henry still had ball and chain around neck
  • Mark was just fucked
  • Jeremy is invincible
  • Stuart was fine but wouldn’t be soon…

 

The boys came out and gave it everything going head to head with their state league opposition. The Griff’s were up after 6 minutes and were still fighting hard. This frustrated ECU to no end. Toby was unstoppable! At times he was triple teamed by ECU’s tired defense but nothing could stop him…except a rolled ankle…this put him out after only 2 quarters. Mark was having his best game of the tournament (see stats) cleaning glass and handing out old fashioned punishment at both ends. This unfortunately did not last long either as he too had to sit after fouling out in the 3rd quarter. The face on marks defender was priceless! (mix between believing that god exists, exhaustion and accepting defeat). Stu Renigers, after knocking down his 3rd mid-range jumper, then copped an elbow to the throat putting him out as well. 5 Griffins left and game on!

It was now up to our guards to defend ECUs scoring run. When they got hot there wasn’t much to do except watch as 3s rained down. This inevitable burst put ECU up by 25. We knew it would happen at some stage so we kept running and attacking! It worked as we ran ECU off their feet bringing the score back to a respectable 12 points.  74-86 was the closest losing score against ECU in the tournament.

Bronze Medal Match Stats vs ECU

  Rebounds Steals Turnovers Assists Air-balls points
BFG 17 2 0 0 1 18
Lady Killa 4 0 1 0 0 16
Captain 3 3 0 1 0 8
Drill Sergeant 4 2 2 1 2 21
The Drill 4 0 3 0 0 4
Rowdy 2 0 2 1 1 5
Old Man 3 1 2 4 0 2
Mr Domestic 3 0 1 0 2 0

 

 

Despite a slow start the boys really came together as a team and played some quality team basketball. The cohesiveness of the group showed and

helped us get through the tournament. We finished the tournament still as friends after staying, playing and partyi

 

ng together for a week and we were 12 points off a medal!

Everyone made it out that night (including slightly deflated mas

 

cot – Ruby Flynn) but not everyone made it where we were going … Yea, our last night together as a team was a little wild…………… ;-)

UNIGAMES POST-MORTEM

Unigames 2010 was a week that none of the participants will forget! The group of basketballers could not have been more cohesive. This was truly obvious with everyone looking out for each other when out and Adelaide University representing well at the basketball stadium.  All team members (where possible) made it to every AU Basketball game! It is this team behavior which makes the Unigames experience that much better!

Special thanks must go to:

  • Nando’s Kurralta Park for providing a very generous fundraising event
  • The Sports Association (esp. Caitlin & Helen) for making the Adelaide Unigames team happen
  • Jeremy Cotterill as AU Unigames Basketball organizer (and for general awesomeness)
  • The AU Unigames Basketball Teams (for being awesome!)